Ironman 70.3 World Championship 2016 - Triathlon

I think I could have pushed the swim harder. I got a fairly clear start and, while some of the faster swimmers from the last start came through our pack and raised some waves (causing me to swallow some water and stop to cough/gag a few times), compared to a lot of races, I was mostly swimming in the clear. I was maybe just a bit awestruck that I was swimming at Worlds! Could hear the helicopters and the announcer the whole time--it was eerie.

Just focus on my own race, and push the swim a little harder.

This is a very long transition area, and different than most events. You go to one area, take off the wetsuit and put it in a bag. Then run to another set of bags where your bike things are.There are a couple thousand bags (almost 3000 people in the race) so the area is quite big. Then run through the big transition area to your bike. Then it is still quite a trot to the mount line. I believe they said on the video it is 700m from swim exit to mount line.

Not get stung by or step on whatever I did. Just before or after exiting the water, I managed to step on something (rock? marine critter?) which caused a really painful area and big purple mark on the ball of one foot. I basically ended up walking most of T1 and T2, as it really hurt, as I was afraid to further aggravate things for the run.

No Garmin data, so I can only describe what I think happened. I knew there was supposed to be a turn to the right with a steep hill between about 54 and 55 km. At some point just after 50 km, we turned left onto the first of the "hinterland loops" after leaving the Sunshine Motorway via some connector roads. Just as I entered "Loop 1", a large draft pack of at least 20-30 bikes blew past me, forcing me far to the left side of the road. Kind of rode along in their wake until they were past. Kept riding, no sign for 55 km, but eventually did get to a point where the road turned right and we headed uphill. I'd heard estimates of the hill at 15-18%; honestly it did not seem that steep; I figured they were exaggerated, and pumped on up. Nice long gradual descent after the top. I finished what I assumed was the first loop and then headed for my second.

Approached the intersection and was asked, "First loop or second?" by an official. I said second and was waved to continue forward. As I rode by, I spied the hill to the right and realized THAT was the steep hill from Loop 1, and that I had missed it the first time and ridden Lap 2 first instead. It also occurred to me that this might explain why I no longer was seeing the 5-6 riders I had been leapfrogging with for the first 50 km, but a totally different crowd! (They had probably started earlier, and were on Loop 2.) I had just figured that maybe the draft pack had split us up.

Backtracked and told the official what had happened, asked, is there any way not to DQ at this point? He said he wasn't sure (??) but the safest thing to do would be to ride Loop 1, then Loop 2 again, so I hit the timing mats in the correct sequence. So this is what I did.

Cannot with 100% certainty say that I did Loop 2 in its entirety twice, as no Garmin data, and the loops overlapped on the descent, but it looked mighty familiar! Looking at the map, there really weren't roads there to do anything else and remain on the course going in the right direction, which I was. There were always other riders, and no one going in the opposite way. In any case, total time given the effort and course difficulty was indeed off by the amount I would expect if I rode ten extra kilometers. I was riding HARD, at least till the 80 km sign, when all my wishful thinking that I was just feeling turned around but had actually ridden the course correctly was cancelled by the grim reality that it was now past the time I should have ridden with even a mediocre (for me) bike leg.

Many people DQ'd themselves by riding Loop 2 twice, never noticing the turnoff. Some others somehow rode back after only one loop (or maybe this is just how it appears with the computer timing when you ride the loops out of sequence). Since there were so many (I understand over 100), I have to think it was not just my own stupidity, but an issue with the marking and officiating on the course. In my case, it was compounded by not having a working Garmin to alert me that the turnoff should be coming up. I did know the course and in fact was carrying a map. I think had I had the Garmin and/or not been passed by a big draft pack on that stretch, I would have noticed and made the turnoff.

BTW the bike and run ranks are not for the leg itself, but one's overall standing after that leg. So it is probably worse than 62nd! I was actually surprised I ended up 47th in my AG after having biked an extra 10 km.

Drive the course in advance if possible. The logistics of doing this were just too overwhelming with everything else going on. And still not sure I would have seen the turnoff on the right when trying to keep myself safe while being passed by a draft train on the right..

Have a backup Garmin (maybe wear my run Garmin) so even in the event my regular one fails I can still get distance and pace data.

Despite my horrible emotional state at the time (I was crying most of the last 10 km of the bike and through T2) I actually managed a graceful flying dismount! My foot still hurt once I got it out of my bike shoes and felt swollen, so I kind of hobbled/walked through bike racking and on to where my run things were. To my relief, it felt fine once I got my running shoes on. It didn't bother me on the run, though it felt a little swollen in the last few miles and for a few days after the race, and about half my foot was a lovely shade of purple. But basically a surface-level injury--it was causing fluid to build up beneath the skin on the sole of my foot, not anything deeper.

Not step on something and hurt my foot, so I could run properly through T2.

It was a good run, actually, considering I'd ridden an extra 10 km, and my emotional state at the time. I knew at that point I was out of the running for any kind of competitive result I'd be proud of. (Actually had no idea what I could do; my coach later told me she thought with a good race I had a chance for top 20.) Thought about just letting it rip on the run but the idea of doing that for no real competitive point and then sitting on a red-eye flight the next night gave me pause. I just put it in auto-pilot and ran. Not really killing it, but not sandbagging either. I just ran how I felt. Actually surprised I ran that fast considering 4 X 700m hill!

If I hadn't biked extra and knew I was in the running for my competitive goals, I could have pushed it harder. As it was, 1:48 felt quite easy, if anything can be called easy after nearly 6 hours of racing when one is trying very hard not to scream or lie down beside the road and sob.

None, unless you count a whole lotta walking. World's longest finish chute and walk to the finisher swag, photo area, street clothes, food area by the beach. I was wheezing a bit and thought I should go to medical for a while but never found it. Fortunately it didn't become a full-blown attack. Got some food but I couldn't finish the sandwich--it tasted like cardboard. Had some watermelon, decided to head back to the hotel and take a shower but just then they decided to open bike and bag pickup early, so I ended up picking up bike plus all my crap and schlepping it back over Alex Hill to the hotel a mile away. That actually felt worse than the last mile of the race.

There was nowhere good to eat near my hotel, so after cleaning up a bit and a very sorry e-mail to family, friends, and coach, headed back over Alex Hill (trip #7 of the day) to eat, then back over (#8) to hotel.


Not pushing hard enough on the swim.

Garmin issue on the bike. It would have helped me pace and MIGHT have prevented the missed turn snafu.

Errr...riding an extra 10 km on the bike?!

Plus my state of mind after that. When I hit 80 km on the bike I realized I was well and truly screwed and my race was pretty much over. I was just running to finish.


No complaints about most of the race setup--it is what it is with 3000 people, and some things, like transition, just aren't going to be very efficient due to sheer numbers. But, given my own experience and the number of people who DQ'd, I think that the marshaling and course marking on the "hinterland" portion of the bike course was inadequate and not up to the level of a championship event. I feel that I did my due diligence--studied the maps, went to the briefing, and was even carrying a map. But I still didn't see the turnoff, and many others didn't as well. Clearly something was wrong. The turnoff sign was quite small, a little ways up a steep hill, and on the opposite side of the road from where we were riding, so it was easy to miss if there were riders passing you at that point, which I believe is what happened in my case. Some people in earlier waves complained that an official was not stationed at the turn, either, when they went past.

I was also surprised that the official didn't really seem to know if it would be a DQ if I just rode Lap 1 second without repeating Lap 2. He just said it was "safest", to do 1 and 2 in sequence, if I didn't want to DQ. Plus at that point I wasn't entirely sure that's what had happened, only that I'd missed the Lap 1 turnoff somehow. Still wonder if I shot myself in the foot unnecessarily.

Maybe doing the loops in the other direction, so turnoff is on the left (the side people ride on) would be better. Others (on ST) suggested a colored slap-on bracelet system so officials and athletes could keep track. I have seen that done in large road (run) races and it worked--maybe harder with bikes. Or just do away with the two overlapping loops--I think they weren't suitable to the size of race and number of athletes on the course.

I trained for nearly two years trying specifically to qualify for Worlds and spent over $2000 just on my trip there (entry, accommodation, flights, etc.), as did, I would assume, most other overseas athletes. There's no guarantee any of us will get a chance to do it again. I have to admit that I am bitterly disappointed both in myself (that I missed the turnoff) and in the course marking and officiating. While I'm proud of qualifying for and finishing this race, I REALLY wish I didn't have to remember my first trip to Worlds this way.